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“For the first 15-20 years of my life, I never made a livable wage,” said Heather Pipino, one of about two dozen supporters of who testified to the House Committee on General, Housing and Military Affairs.

Pipino said her decades of work never amounted to the pay she said she deserved. She said she supports the increase of the minimum wage and that she also backs a law mandating paid sick days.

“I worked hard for decades and yet I was expected to scramble to cover my shifts when I was sick or I faced losing a day's pay that I could not afford,” she said.

Vermont’s minimum wage is set at $8.73 for 2014. It rises each year with inflation. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

Under H.552, for which the committee was taking testimony Thursday, the state’s minimum wage would increase to $12.50.

Last week, Gov. Peter Shumlin, D-Vt., called for the minimum wage to increase to $10.10 over the next three years. President Barack Obama is also calling for an increase of the federal minimum wage to $10.10.

Some speakers Thursday called for more.

“Fifteen dollars an hour should be now,” said Ashley Smith. “And we should have paid sick days. We’re in the 21st century. This is Victorian-era conditions.”

Four speakers who said they were against the idea said a rise in the minimum wage would hurt their bottom line and could mean job cuts.

“An increase in the minimum wage would hamper our abilities to grow and increase employment opportunities,” said Sean Crumb of the Vermont Campground Association.

Other opponents said it’s an individual’s duty to work toward higher wages, and that building a resume as a teenager could lead to prosperity as an adult.

“If your first job is a minimum-wage job when you're trying to pay for all of these things, chances are you're going to be stuck there and you're not going to get much beyond that point,” said Shayne Spence of the Ethan Allen Institute.

House Speaker Shap Smith does not think paid sick leave has enough support to pass this legislative session, but minimum wage is another story. It has the backing of Shumlin and the White House.

H.522 focuses only on minimum wage and not paid sick leave. Supporters said they talked about both issues because they said they both constitute dignity in the workplace.

The paid sick leave proposal would require employers provide full-time employees with up to seven paid sick days a year.